Parenting

Jewish Camp is a valuable way for interfaith families to learn and share in the joy of Judaism in a comfortable, fun and meaningful environment. See which camps identify as welcoming to interfaith families.

Organizations

Connecting Interfaith Families to Jewish Life in Greater Cleveland by providing programs and opportunities for interfaith families to experience Judaism in a variety of venues, meet other interfaith families, and to connect to other Jewish organizations that may serve their needs.

Events

This is an interactive, fun, and low-key workshop for couples who are dating, engaged or recently married. The sessions will give you a chance to ask questions about faith, to think about where you are as an adult with your own spirituality and to talk through what's important to you and your partner.

For Program Providers

A great way for Jewish professionals and volunteers who work with and provide programming for people in interfaith relationships to locate resources and trainings to build more welcome into their Jewish communities; connect with and learn from each other; and publicize and enhance their programs and services.

Tag Archives: summer camp

I always spend some time as Rabbi in Residence at Camp Tawonga in California each summer, and it is always a highlight of my year. Camp’s Jewish theme changes each time, and this year we are focusing on the word from Torah “Hineni,” which means “I am present.” Many biblical heroes, notably Moses at the burning bush, respond to a challenge or opportunity by proclaiming, “Hineni!” or â€śI am here and I am spiritually ready.â€ť This week, we offered campers a way to cultivate a state of Hineni through a mindful eating practice.

The hardest part for most campers was when they were handed a raisin and instructed to refrain from eating it until the end of the exercise to get the most out of the experience. We placed a raisin in the palm of their hands and asked them to contemplate every aspect of the morsel. What does it feel like? Smell like? What were the physical forces in the universe that made it possible for this bit of sustenance to arrive into our hands? Who were the people who contributed to its creation?

Campers talked about the laborers in the grapevines, the wind, sun and rain, the workers at Sysco’s plant who packaged the raisins and the truck drivers who brought them to camp. They were especially cognizant of the water necessary to sustain the vines amidst California’s water crisis. What a miracle to be holding this piece of food that was the result of so many complicated forces!

Finally, we thought about whether the food about to be consumed came from a tree or the ground so we could say a Jewish blessing before eating it. Pausing to think about where our food comes from and choosing either traditional Jewish words or creating our own prayers can turn every eating experience into a moment of Hineni. Prayer can be a ritual reminder in a fast-paced world to stop for a moment, bringing to mind all of the varied forces that went into the production of that bite of food.

When asked about the experience, campers had many responses:

“A raisin has never tasted so good!”

“It really made me appreciate the raisin a lot more, because we stopped and thought about where it came from.”

“I never thought about what it takes to get a simple raisin to a box.”

Others remarked on the fruit bursting with more sweetness than they usually notice. And in a few rare cases, kids who previously hated raisins reported liking them for the first time. Some remarked that they felt Hineni in their bodies after trying out this practice. The campers thought about other moments that seem to pass by unnoticed in their daily lives that they could mark as notable and sacred.

Rabbi Mychal with campers (and raisins) at Camp Tawonga

Some people are naturally inclined toward Hineni. Most of us struggle to slow life down and be present for the moments large and small that make up our complicated lives. Watching the campers experience this exercise reminded me that being present or some might even say “spiritual,” is not necessarily an inborn character trait with which we are either gifted or denied. Most people need to cultivate those skills, but they are completely learnable and need to be reinforced throughout our lives.

This sense of connectedness to ourselves and the world around us is available whether or not we grew up within a religious tradition or with more than one religious background. Many interfaith families struggle with how they are going to manage â€śreligionâ€ť in their homes. But a first step might be to identify spiritual abilities or skills we want our kids to possess to deepen their experience of being alive: being present, expressing gratitude, feeling connected to other human beings and our environment.

Here at camp, kids are learning that Jewish prayer is one tool for cultivating that mindset which we have at our fingertips. In past years, my own kids have returned from camp wanting to sing the Haâ€™Motzi prayer of thanks for bread at our home table. I believe this was in part because there was such a boisterous energy in the dining hall when hundreds of kids sang the words together. But perhaps they also unwittingly wanted to bring it home because the rote repetition of this prayer three times a day provided an automatic moment of reflection and pause, lending an aura of the sacred to a monotonous, daily occurrence. This is just one of the ways campers at Jewish overnight camps learn the tools to be more present in their lives and more attuned to who they are who they are becoming.

To learn more about the array of interfaith-friendly Jewish overnight camps in the Bay Area, including URJ Reform Camp Newman, Camp Tawonga, Maccabi Sports Camp, and the brand new Conservative Camp Ramah Norcal, get in touch with me at mychalc@interfaithfamily.com or check out the list here!

Jillian (center) during her days as a counselor at Eisner camp, with her campers

The need to belong is part of the human condition. We all want to feel a sense of home, we seek it out, we write songs and poetry about it and we hold on for dear life when we find it. I figured out how to belong to Judaism at camp.

My Jewish camp was the Union for Reform Judaismâ€™s Joseph Eisner Camp in Great Barrington, MA. I still remember the first time I drove up to the gates, sick with nerves, worried if I could fit in. I also remember the tear-streaked ride home those two months later when I was grounded by such a deep sense of belonging the likes of which I had never felt before.

Each winter, as the countdown for those bright summer days began, we would throw around the term, â€ś10 months for 2.â€ť I suspect that if Twitter had existed in those days, it would have become my favorite hashtag. And this was the reality that we felt deep within our pre-teen and teenage souls; that we lived those ten other months of the year in exile, waiting to return to the holy land once more for those two precious months. Oh, how much we could cram into 60 days.

At camp, I could not only figure out who I was but I could also be anything. I lived in Jewish time and space, where days were marked with fun and creative prayer and song, where we interacted with Israelis on staff who taught us about Israel and connected us to the larger Jewish world, where we learned and shared a common vocabulary and sang familiar Jewish songs in a way I had never experienced at my home synagogue. And because we lived in Jewish time, swimming, arts and crafts, drama and every sport imaginable became part of our Jewish summer camp experience. We were given ownership over our religious experiences and we celebrated Shabbat (and I truly mean celebrated) each week with creativity, music, dance and our own words of gratitude and introspection. I didnâ€™t even realize how much Jewish knowledge I had gained in these series of two months until I got home and realized I knew every melody and every prayer and wanted to teach them to my interfaith parents and my friends (even if they werenâ€™t as keen).

I imagine we all have those transformative experiences in our lives, the ones we think back to regularly, which we credit for our personal growth and identity. Mine was Eisner Camp and I would hazard a guess that the large majority of my fellow campers and counselors would say the same, even though we have all chosen our own, different paths through life. My path led me to the rabbinate, to wanting to make Judaism as alive and vibrant every day as it felt during those summers, to help everyone who wanted to belong to Judaism and the Jewish community and to create connections and friendships that last a lifetime.

The impact that Eisner Camp had on my life is immeasurable because these ten years later, the mere thought of camp makes me smile and remember a million experiences, moments, songs, sounds and people. Writing this blog post alone reminds me of the hot sweaty perfect Friday night song sessions, the trials and tribulations of camp friendships and the moment my team won Maccabiah (color war). I wouldnâ€™t be who I am without camp. I wouldnâ€™t be a knowledgeable, engaged Jewâ€”let alone a rabbi, and I certainly wouldnâ€™t still feel like a little piece of my heart is living 10 months for 2.

I spent last week at Californiaâ€™s Camp Tawonga as the rabbi on staff for their â€śTaste of Campâ€ť (a six-day introduction to the camp experience for kids who arenâ€™t ready for a longer session yet). I overheard two 8- or 9-year-olds getting to know each otherâ€™s backgrounds on the way back to the cabin.

Excitedly, one girl told the other, â€śMy Mom is Jewish and my Dad is Christian. But we are mostly Jewish.â€ť

The other smiled and piped in, â€śIn our house, we are also mixed! We eat some Hebrew food, and some Mexican food.â€ť

This comment cracked me up and reminded me of being a little kid and having other kids ask me, â€śAre you Hanukkah or Christmas?â€ť The conversation went on, comparing which holidays they each celebrate that are â€śHebrewâ€ť and delighting in finding much commonality between their families.

What impressed me most about the conversation was their comfort and ease with the subject. Tawonga is a camp unaffiliated with any particular Jewish denomination, and many kids come from interfaith households. It seemed the perfect place for two kids to explore how they view their backgrounds and make sense of who they are becoming.

I donâ€™t know the full picture of these kidsâ€™ family lives, but I would venture to say that they have been given a great gift: clarity. There is much worry that children with parents from different backgrounds will be confused, especially if the parent who is not Jewish continues to be connected to her or his religious heritage. From my experience working with interfaith families, some children are confused, and othersâ€”not in the least bit. And a lot of that is dependent on how intentional, clear and forthcoming parents are about what their â€śreligious planâ€ť is for the family. When they know how they are planning on affiliating with religions, communicate that effectively to their children and follow through on it, the kids are more likely to feel secure in who they are religiously as wellâ€”regardless of what the plan actually is.

What is the â€śreligious planâ€ť for the little girl who says she is â€śmostly Jewishâ€ť? I donâ€™t know. But I imagine that she is comfortable saying her family is â€śmostly Jewishâ€ť and talking freely about it because they have an idea of how they are living spiritually and have communicated that to her. Perhaps she is being raised Jewishly and being sent to a Jewish camp. But she is also keenly aware that there is more to the story and honors her parent who is not Jewish as a contributor to her emerging identity.

Weâ€™ve all heard about â€śhalf Jews.â€ť And people who say they are â€śpart Jewish,â€ť or â€śa quarter Jewish.â€ť I think these kids just came up with a new category. Mostly Jewish. And proud of it.

Everyone stand in a big circle. If you have a parent who is not Jewish, take a step inside the circle. Stay there. Now, if you are still in the outside circle, and you have a close relative who is not Jewish, take a step inside the circle.Â

Everyone looked around and saw that nearly all of the more than 75 participants had taken a step inside the circle.

And so began InterfaithFamily/Philadelphiaâ€™s Sensitivity Training for counselors at Camp JRF (the Reconstructionist movementâ€™s overnight camp in the Pennsylvania Poconos) for working with children from interfaith homes. This trainingâ€”which I conducted along with my IFF/Philadelphia colleagues Wendy Armon and Robin Warsawâ€”was part of the campâ€™s Inclusivity Training for counselors in the week before campers arrived. It was clear to all of the counselors in attendance that being part of an interfaith family isnâ€™t just a theoretical issue for liberal Jews today, itâ€™s something that touches almost every one of us personally.

Over the next hour, we explored how the counselors could best handle various issues that might come up during the summer. For example, what do you do as a counselor when youâ€™re leading a discussion about God and one of the campers brings up Jesus? The counselors also divided up into small groups and discussed and acted out various scenarios involving interfaith issues, such as how to react when a camper says that she is â€śhalf Jewish and half [another religion]â€ť or when a camper claims that his bunkmate â€śisnâ€™t really Jewish.â€ť

I was amazed at the counselorsâ€™ thoughtfulness and sensitivity, their insight and creativity, and their openness to discussing challenging issues. After the training, the three of us from IFF/Philadelphia had the pleasure of joining the counselors for a healthy and delicious (really!) lunchâ€”which was followed by a rousing song session in which the counselors sang some of the songs theyâ€™ve been learning in advance of the campersâ€™ arrival. Then we were in for a real treat, as the campâ€™s director, Rabbi Isaac Saposnik, took us on a tour (by golf cart) of the camp. We saw how the different activity areas were labeled with signs that looked like Israeli street signs, naming the activity in Hebrew, English and Arabic. A highlight of the tour was the campâ€™s new Eco-Village (designed with the input of campers from the past year), a super cool area where campers entering their freshman and sophomore years of high school will live in yurts.

More than once throughout our day at Camp JRF, we heard someone use the camp expression â€śHow We Be.â€ť At Camp JRF, diversity isnâ€™t just toleratedâ€¦it isnâ€™t just acceptedâ€¦itâ€™s embraced! One thing was clear:Â â€śWe all be differentâ€¦and thatâ€™s wonderful!â€ť Camp JRF is very much a JEWISH camp, but every person at campâ€”counselor or camperâ€”is encouraged to express his or her Judaism in a way that is personally meaningful. And each person understands that he or she has to respect how others â€śbe.â€ť Thereâ€™s no â€śone size fits all.â€ť Each individual is unique, and that makes for a vibrant camp community.

I have no doubt that the campers who attend Camp JRF this summer will have an amazing time. Theyâ€™ll swim and play Frisbee; dance and sing; make new friends and have all kinds of exciting and rewarding experiences. If theyâ€™re going into ninth or tenth gradeâ€”theyâ€™ll even get to live in a yurt! But most important, theyâ€™ll know that theyâ€™re living in a community where their uniqueness is embraced and they are accepted for who they are, as they are. And THAT is a great way to â€śbe.â€ť